Scientists reveal the surprising flirting tactic that's almost guaranteed to bag you a date

Rom-coms have given us a range of weird and wonderful flirting tactics through the years.

In Legally Blonde, Elle Woods swears by her signature move, the 'Bend and Snap', while Cher Horowitz's advice in Clueless is to send yourself flowers. 

But if you're a single, it's time to step away from the TV, and turn to science. 

A new study has revealed a surprising flirting tactic - and scientists say it is almost guaranteed to bag you a date. 

Researchers from South China Normal University say that singletons should simply ask their love interest for their help. 

Requesting assistance not only indicates your romantic interest in someone, but also serves as an effective strategy to attract a partner, according to the experts. 

'People will show their romantic interests toward a potential mate in a covert but detectable way when courtship motive is high,' the researchers explained.

'The present research demonstrated that asking for dependency-oriented help can effectively convey romantic interests and can be readily detected and decoded correctly by the intended recipients.'

In the study, the team assessed two different ways of asking for help. 

This included 'autonomy-oriented', which is asking someone for guidance, or 'dependency-oriented', which is asking someone to do it for you.

While asking someone to complete a task for you is often seen negatively, the scientists proposed it could have a positive role in forming relationships.

The researchers conducted nine studies involving a total of 2,535 participants and which involved both hypothetical scenarios and real-world interactions.

In one study, for example, participants were presented with everyday challenges such as buying a bookcase, planning a travel itinerary, choosing a bottle of wine or fixing a malfunctioning device.

They were asked to choose between requesting guidance to solve the problem or asking the helper to solve the issue for them.

Another study involved asking participants to evaluate a scenario where a potential partner asked for help in different ways, and then to rate their interest in the person afterward.

Analysis, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, revealed asking someone to do something for you could serve as a strategic signal of romantic interest.

When participants were exposed to romantic cues, such as imagining spending time with a desirable person, they were more likely to request help by asking someone to do something for them.

They found that participants who provided help expressed a greater romantic interest in a person when they were asked to do something for them, rather than simply provide guidance.

The researchers also discovered that people already in romantic relationships were likely to see others who asked their partner to complete a task for them as a 'mate poacher'.

They added that 'revealing weakness and forfeiting autonomy' can have benefits in some situations.

The team said that people may hide their weakness and fragility from strangers and are reluctant to seek dependency-oriented help in order to avoid letting themselves be trapped in an 'inferior' position.

However, relying on a partner and letting them take care of personal issues is a 'must' because couples need to cooperate closely with each other to deal with things such as paying a mortgage or raising a child, they added.